Carriage Pram and New Pram Kits

Hello mini friends...

I hope this post finds you all well.  Last time I posted I told you I would be showing you the new improvements I have made on my prams...

Well I had an order from a lovely lady (I do have some wonderful customers) and we chatted about a few old things as you do, and I ended up making a carriage pram rather like the Oberon in a previous post but this time for an adult dh doll to push.  To add to this she asked me could I make her a little crib like the one she had as a baby, a little bit of research later and a crib with a little stand on wheels was recreated in mini and lastly I made a tiny canopy for the carriage pram.  Well I had lots of fun doing all this I can tell you but it also gave me a chance to use some of the new materials I had been researching and educating myself on.

I think one of the main things I am pleased with is the wheels... notice the wheels have double spokes which are just wonderful.  Prior to this I had made my own wheels and also found a few to purchase but the old way I made wheels was very time consuming and difficult but now, I finally have new wheels with double spokes that I love.

As always the pram has a moving hood and wheels and is fully lined and has a matching apron.  I changed quite a few things on this mini make and I even found some very tiny screws to attach the various parts with, they were fiddly but they work.  I really love how it all turned out and I hope you love it too.

Now the good news is, I have finally, finalised my pram kits and managed to get several made up and on sale so that you can now make your own carriage prams.   I asked a very lovely friend of mine to test-run one of my kits prior to release.  This lovely lady has never made a pram before but she is a seasoned crafter of mini things and has some beautiful works so I thought she would be the perfect person to test out the kit and give me some honest feedback.

I will tell you now that my friend agreed with me that my carriage pram kit is not for the faint hearted, as I said to her, part of the reason I wanted to bring out kits was because making these prams takes so long and so I wanted to give more people the chance to own one of these beautiful prams knowing that I myself do not have enough hours in the day to take on all the orders I get.  So this way I can give more people the opportunity to have their own treasured miniature carriage pram and they can also feel proud that they made it. I have given this kit a difficulty level of being for the seasoned crafter because it is quite detailed and takes a degree of time and accuracy.  I expect I could bring out another kit with a non-moving hood and without a padded and lined inner and that could be a little easier to make and I will work on some simplified kits in the future but first I intend to bring out lots of other mini pram and pushchair kits.

I did change a few things in the kit from what I originally created because to be very honest the instructions are already pages long and given the long list of materials I use, well lets just say it was turning into the 'War & Peace' equivalent.  I suspect I will continue to improve on this kit but this will mean the kit is limited and therefore I am going to send out numbered certificates of authenticity with the kits.

So I have more kits in the making, modern kits, kits for prams and other minis too.  The modern kits are so much simpler in comparison to the carriage pram, but I intend to make some even easier kits so that people who have never even attempted to put together a piece of Ikea furniture can just throw a basic pram kit together blindfolded... well maybe not blindfolded but certainly with ease.  

Now because I am making kits I believe it will leave me a little time to make the minis I want to make, you know, allow artistic juices to flow and all that.  So I intend to have some fun next year making whatever takes my fancy and I already have some ideas on what next year will bring. 

If you would like a carriage pram kit then I have put them up for sale on my website (click this link). If you happen to go there and find I am out of stock then don't worry I'll keep making more kits for a while and you can always email me if you find the new stock hasn't been updated for a while.

So here is the new pram that the carriage pram kits are based on and also below are pictures of the crib and the prams with its canopy.  Hope you enjoy.

1/12th Scale Carriage Pram

1/12th Scale Carriage Pram

1/12th Scale Carriage Pram

1/12th Scale Carriage Pram

1/12th Scale prams set and pram toy

1/12th Scale Carriage Pram

1/12th Scale Carriage Pram

Here is the crib and the pram with canopy.

1/12th Scale crib

1/12th Scale crib

I hope you like the pictures, Next I will be looking at designing some nice modern pushchair kits and I will eventually get round to creating some period pram kits too. 

Big mini hugs

Gill x

Four New 1/12th Scale Miniature Prams

Hello mini friends...

Hope you are all well.  I expect the next thing on your mind will be Christmas.  Our house is already full to bursting with gifts for the children and grandchildren... my better half always says "this year we won't buy them so much" and then promptly purchases the earth and the moon on a stick for everyone lol.  I'm all excited and we've not even hit December yet.  I love Christmas though and can't wait to see the little one's faces as they open their gifts.  I make all the family come found to my house ultra early just so I can watch everyone open their pressies :)  Ah I love it!

Well since we last talked I've made four prams all for the same customer, and all different and one of them became my favourite because it was so unusual - this one was a mini version of a real life pram and I had to re-create the fabric and print it myself.  Here they are...

I made a little blue pushchair with a rain cover and foot-muff.  I have made several like this one and I printed the fabric specially .

1/12th Scale miniature blue pushchair

1/12th Scale miniature blue pushchair

I made a red and grey twin pushchair with seats that recline individually.  As always the wheels move and the harnesses unfasten so that the dollhouse babies can be secured safe and sound.

1/12th Scale miniature twin pushchair

1/12th Scale miniature twin pushchair

I made a little lemon reclining pushchair with a removable play tray complete and sippy cup.  This is a favourite among customers and in the future I have plans to bring out a kit that will allow me to make these prams with reversible handles. 

1/12th Scale miniature reclining pushchair

1/12th Scale miniature reclining pushchair

1/12th Scale miniature reclining pushchair

1/12th Scale miniature reclining pushchair

Lastly the pink pram is my favourite and I love it.  This pram is based on my customers own photograph and I made a pattern in miniature that very closely resembled the real life one.  This is as cute as ever and I think I may bring out some new prams in the future with more interesting designs like this. 

1/12th Scale miniature pink pram

1/12th Scale miniature pink pram

1/12th Scale miniature pink pram

And here they all are together... 

1/12th Scale miniature prams

1/12th Scale miniature prams

 

In my next post I intend to show you the massive improvements I've made to my carriage prams by testing out new materials and researching and also going on a huge learning curve.

Talk soon.

Big mini hugs

Gill x

Oberon Pram 1/12th Scale

Hello mini friends,

I managed to make my Oberon child's toy pram in 1/12th scale and it turned out rather well.  I had lots of fun taking pictures of my little Heidi Ott doll playing with the pram and her dollies.  These prams in real life are quite large and hence quite large looking when scaled down so it was fun trying to explain that this was a child-doll's doll's pram for a doll house lol.  It's a pity I didn't have an adult-doll's doll house pram to put at the side of it during pictures to show the difference in size... perhaps a project for the future maybe :)

I made this pram for a lovely customer who is creating a memory box; she specifically mentioned that the little bag clipped on to the handle so I had to do a bit of research to find out how but I managed it.  I don't know about you but I rely heavily on the internet for my research and I found that sometimes when I cannot find the info in a basic search of various websites if I switch my view on google to 'images' then I can find what I want much more easily, also a juggle of words helps too.  Viewing images is like a shortcut to find what I need as I can immediately see a picture of it then pop to the website if I need more information.  I even found this useful when I was trying to find dimensions of a specific pram, in google images I managed to find the pram with all the measurements printed on the picture, fantastic help.

So, it has been as always a super busy time but this time I've been like a hermit and hardly been out of the craft room at all because I am snowed under with orders and with fine tuning pram kits that I hope will make it possible for many more people to have their own little prams.  Instead of the complicated way I make prams now, I have spent a long, long time researching materials and testing them out and I now think I can make some fairly basic kits for people so that they can make up their own prams.  I even have a kit on its way for carriage prams and I'm very proud of this one.  Now my orders are going to run right up to December so I'll be kept busy but I am crossing my fingers that I will have pram kits out by December too so keep an eye out.  The kits will probably change a little as time goes by because at present I think I will have to put a difficulty scale on them as all will require some craft knowledge but some will need a basic understanding where as some will require a little more skill.  It is a long drawn out process because I want to get it right and of course I have to put them together myself while taking pictures so I can make instructions.  Eventually I'll put up pictures and a blog of me making the prams myself here for anyone needing extra help.  I have plans to make kits for a carriage pram, a modern pram and a modern pushchair but more kits will follow as and when I get the chance to design and put them together.  My hope is that it will relieve some of my workload just a little bit while allowing more people to own their own cute mini pram.

Well, that's what I've been up to, and on the table now is another Lloyd Loom crib and an adult-doll's Oberon style carriage pram, almost complete.  I've begun making my own wheels now so you will hopefully see a marked improvement on my old wheels.  Also on the table are... a twin pushchair, a modern pram, a reclining pushchair and a single pushchair.  Well I better crack on or I'll never get anything finished.  Here are my Oberon pictures... enjoy.   

Have a nice day all, talk soon.

Gill x

Lloyd Loom Crib

Hello mini friends,

Firstly I apologise, it's been a long, long time since I updated my blog.  I blame life lol, yes somehow life got in the way and after all the time spent with my granddaughter Phoebe who is almost two now I just never found much time to mini make.  I have however rectified the situation and have made a few things that I'll show you further down the page.  Firstly though I must tell you of some sad news that also made life a little more difficult for a while...

Be warned this is sad news although there is a more positive side to it at the end.

Last year my eldest son Nicky came to see me and he told me he was to become a daddy.  I was overjoyed as was he.  Nicky went out and found a big house to move to instead of his flat and made all those baby preparations including reading baby books and even downloaded an expectant dad apps (yes there is an app for everything these days).  Sadly in September I received news that my little granddaughter's heart had stopped beating and we rushed to the hospital only to find that she had indeed died inside the womb at 27 weeks.  Devastated is an understatement.  We hugged and cried and then as my son's world fell apart I had to try and put my sadness aside and be strong so I could be there for support.  My granddaughter Cassie Elizabeth was born sleeping on 20th September 2015 weighing just 1lb 11oz, she was so tiny but so perfect.  We had the most beautiful send off for her with balloons and bubbles and everyone wore little butterfly pins and it was, well it felt magical because there was so much love from our whole family who had all pulled together to help each other.  We even had little packets of seeds to sow this year in remembrance. 

At the time of Cassie's birth my son was supported by a charity called Harry & Co who created special rooms in the hospital for parents and families to spend some time with their baby before the inevitable farewell.  The charity also provide memory boxes with tiny clothes and hand and footprint kits so that some memories can be made and parents can take something home with them.  My son had always said that when his child was born he would take her to see and experience the world and they would have lots of adventures together so after her funeral my son climbed his first mountain in Cassie's name, taking with him her teddy bear.  My son Nicky also wanted to give something back to Harry & Co so he went to talk with them.  Harry & Co was created by a mum and dad who also suffered baby loss - Harry and found there was a lack of facilities to support parents in these circumstances so they made an effort to change that. Harry & Co suggested my son leave a Harry bear at the top of the next mountain he climbed and then my son had an idea, he talked with me and with his daughter Cassie at the baby garden and he decided to climb 100 highest peaks in England and Wales for the charity Harry & Co. 

So, my son Nicky is busy climbing mountains in order to raise awareness and funds in support of the families of angel babies.  He takes with him his daughter Cassie in his heart and her teddy in his hand and he leaves a note and a Harry Bear at the top of each mountain so that people can read about the work that Harry & Co do.  If you would like to you can read my son's story here...  https://www.angelcassie.org/

These are my granddaughter's tiny feet. 

Ok, now onto the minis...

I made a standard pram and then decided to make a smaller one for a doll (a child-doll's doll lol), then an even smaller one just because that was the mood I was in lol.  So here they are the lilac trio.

 

 

 

I was asked earlier this year to make a little mini version of the Lloyd Loom Crib as seen on Call the Midwife so I researched how these cribs were made and found that they were woven on a loom from paper and metal, which sounds like a strange combination of materials but as I researched I found they were very popular and here is a picture of a full size vintage one.

I made the crib and stand in the same sort of way that the full size crib was made and tried to get in a much detail as possible.  I individually attached each tiny section of the frame and wrapped each one to securely hold it in place, it took a while but  I'm rather pleased with the outcome.

On the table at the moment are two other orders almost finished - an Oberon dolls pram and a Dansette record player.  I'm hoping to get these completed by the end of the month so look out for more pictures then. :)

Well that's all for now.  I do have plans to do much more this year now that little Phoebe is growing up and not taking up so much of my time so fingers crossed I mange it this time lol.  Talk soon.

Mini hugs

Gill x